An attempt to make a more comfortable brush grip had been made in patent application DE 28 03 842 (Jan. 30, 1978). This patent application proposes a grip perpendicular to a brush handle, the handle being of a cylindrical variety and captured within a v-groove at the upper edge of the grip. The handle is held against the v-groove by a brace that passes over the handle and is coupled to a threaded stem. The threaded stem is engaged with a thumb nut which bears against the bottom edge of the grip, allowing the brace to be tightened or released.
The shortcomings of the above mentioned invention are numerous (which may be responsible for the invention never being commercialised). Firstly, the grip needs to be essentially perpendicular to the handle to accommodate the brace tightening mechanism. Ideally the handle needs to be angled backwards for optimum comfort. Secondly, by having a continuous v-groove, the grip will only accept cylindrical handles. Most brush handles these days are profiled with a thicker mid region. Such handles would rock within a v-groove, and could slide along it which would be unacceptable. Thirdly, the invention requires at least four components and assembly, both of which result in high manufacturing costs. Additionally, thumb screw mechanisms can be over tightened, damaging a component and also releasing and securing a paintbrush is not a quick operation as may be desirable when having to frequently separate a brush from a grip to reach the bottom of a paint tin.